Next woman GM

Don’t look now but the next Filipino Chess Woman Grandmaster could be 17-year old teenage sensation Kylen Joy Mordido. The Dasmarinas, Cavite Woman Internationmal Master, clinched her second WGM norm in the SOE International Open 2019 in Myanmar. In that tournament, Mordido, with an Elo rating of 1934, shocked IM Han Myint of Myanmar, who has a higher rating of 2257. She earned her first WGM norm last year when she won the premier girls 18-under division in the Eastern Asia Youth Championship in Korea. She was poised to secure the final norm in three tournaments in India but these were cancelled due to Covid -19 pandemic. Mordido’s coach Fide Master RoelAbelgas is confident her ward will soon achieve her goal. The first Pinay chess woman GM is Janelle Mae Frayna.

Hasta la vista Arianne

While the world was reeling on the rampage of the coronavirus pandemic, the country lost another sports treasure, Arianne CaoiliAronian, was killed in an  automobile accident in Yerevan, Armenia on March 30, 2020. Arianne was born in Manila and started playing chess at the age of six.  She won the girls under 16 tournament in Bagac, Bataan. She played for the Philippine team in two chess Olympiads in 1998 and 2000. Being  aFil-Australian, she moved to Australia and played in five more Chess Olympics in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012.  In 2009, she won the London Chess Classic Women’s International Tournament. She married American chess champion LevonAronian in 2017.  Aronian whose Elo rating is 2830, won the Fide World Cup in 2005and 2007.  He is the fourth highest-rated player in history.  Hasta La Vista Arianne, R.I.P.

Marathon in space

Believe it or not British astronaut Tim Peake has completed the London Marathon on April24, 2016 in space, (400 kilometers above the earth). Peake ran the 42km race harnessed to a treadmill to counter the lack of gravity aboard the space station.  With a simulation of the actual route through London’s streets, playing on an iPad, he finished the race in three hours and 35 minutes and 21 seconds.  The 44 year-old astronaut was one of more than 39,000 people running the marathon.  The Book of Guinness says, Peake’s time is the fastest marathon in orbit.  American astronaut Sunita Williams, ran the Boston Marathon from space in 2007 clocking 4:24.

TO OUR FRONTLINERS:”I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7